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A Real Tackdriver
My review sample Titanium Tracker .357 Magnum model was finished in Matte Spectrum
Blue, which has a deep, satiny midnight hue and is an elegant-looking finish.
The long double-action trigger pull has an around-the-cylinder average of 10.839
pounds according to my computerized Dvorak TriggerScan, and the cocked single-action
pull broke clean at 3.950 pounds with only 0.07-inch overtravel and 8.6-millisecond
locktime. Its quick and crisp. The barrel/cylinder gap gauged at .004
inch, which is about .002 inch tighter than the average standard for .357 Magnum
revolvers in general. And the overall fit, finish, and feel of the very tidy
Tracker package was just excellent.

I
chronographed and fired the .357 Tracker for accuracy with seven different commercial
.357 Magnum loads and five varieties of .38 Special +P ammunition, targeting
the open-sighted revolver at 25 yards. The results are listed in the chart.

As I found with
the .357 and .41 Magnum chamberings of the snubnose Total Titanium line for
my report in the May 99 issue, the combination of the soft, hand-conforming
Ribber Grips and the integral barrel porting makes the lightweight Titanium
Tracker revolver extremely comfortable to fire and easy to controleven
with the heaviest recoil, full-power 180-grain .357 Magnum loads. The .38 Special
loads were powder puffs.

Given
the same-power cartridge, fired in two guns of the same dimensions but different
weights, barrel porting will recover the lighter gun quicker and more efficiently.
You would expect a lightweight gun to really take off in recoil, but for the
same reason that it does, in fact, accelerate so rapidly (due to its low inertia
at rest), its also easier to control. Consider someone swinging a heavy
wooden baseball bat at you, and someone else swinging a lightweight, same-dimension
sponge Whiffle-ball bat at you at the same speed. Stick up your hands in front
of the blows. Which is easier to stop? Which stings less?

Add to these weight/porting
factors the cushiony and hand-conforming Ribber Grip design and you have a 24-ounce
magnum revolver you can shoot securely and comfortably with complete rapid-fire
control. The Ribber Grip doesnt shift in your hand, and your palm has
no abrasion. The light titanium material is only one element of an integrated
three-part self-recovering shooting system with the other parts being the unique
Ribber Grips and the integral barrel porting. Remove any one part, and the system
doesnt work.

As for accuracy,
the .357 Titanium Tracker was exceptionaland a surprise. The overall combined
group average for all .357 Magnum loads fired at 25 yards from this open-sight
four-inch gun was a tight 1.81 inches; for all .38 Special loads it was 1.40
inches. Just for comparison, consider that when I recently reviewed a six-inch
S&W Model 686 and a six-inch Ruger GP100 with .357 Magnum ammo loads at
25 yards using a 5X scope, the overall combined averages came out at 1.24 inchesand
thats with two inches more barrel and optics. Taurus reports that some
Tracker groups fired in the ballistics tube in its Miami headquarters are coming
in essentially one-hole. The Tracker gave me some of the best iron-sight magnum
revolver groups Ive fired in a long time.

Why would a Titanium
four-inch gun with a fairly common 1:18.75-inch rifling twist rate perform so
clearly above the norm? Well, individual guns do have individual personalities,
and there are always performance variations gun to gun even among identical
specimens of the same model, particularly with revolvers, due to normal manufacturing
tolerance variations. The next Tracker off the line might not be quite so goodor
it might even be better. But one inherent design element to consider here is
the lined barrel. Remember that a primary reason for the universally recognized
superior accuracy of the Dan Wesson removable-barrel revolver system was the
fact that the slim inner barrel tube was secured at both endsscrewed into
the frame and held tightly to its outer shroud by a heavy-duty muzzle nutthus
reducing barrel vibration and flex. The stainless-steel bore liner of the Taurus
Titanium revolvers is not removable and does not employ a muzzle nut, but it
is nonetheless similarly threaded separately into the frame and secured to the
enclosing titanium barrel at several points along its length in a manner that
gives it considerably more rigidity than any free-hanging, muzzle-thread-only
barrel attachment system. This is not a factor to be overlooked. Ask a Taurus
spokesman, he just smiles and says, Proprietary.

An Outdoorsmans
Dream
I believe the Titanium Tracker magnum revolvers will have great appeal to hunters
and outdoorsmen of all types given their high level of accuracy and performance,
near-indestructible construction, and extreme light weight. Handgun hunting aside,
every big-game rifle hunter in the world ought to find the unencumbering security
of a 24-ounce .357 or .41 Magnum very reassuring should the sudden need arise
for an additional close-quarters shooting tool. Trout or salmon fishermen in bear
country will certainly appreciate the waterproof comfort of a powerful yet lightweight
sidearm. Ranchers and back-country workers who now leave their heavy steel revolvers
under the drivers seat when stepping out of their pickup trucks can have
a powerhouse companion that can be stuck easily in the hip pocket or a belt-slide
holster without a dragging weight pulling at their waists. And hunters who need
to move rapidly over rough ground after a fleet quarry or pack of hounds will
think the Titanium Trackers are a Godsend.

I
remember in the 1960s and 1970s, after the first stainless-steel snubnose and
fixed-sight revolvers appeared on the market, how interminably long the wait
seemed before sport and field models began to appear on the market. The original
stainless S&W Chiefs Special Model 60 was introduced in 1965; it was then
nearly a decade before the first adjustable-sight, longer barrel stainless revolvers
were available. When the S&W AirLite Ti and Taurus Total Titanium personal-defense
and police revolver configurations were initially displayed at the IACP Convention
and SHOT Show several months ago, I immediately craved the longer barreled,
full-featured sport and hunting models I knew were sure to eventually come.
But I expected a long, long wait.

Boy, did I underestimate
this company. Simply put, the weather-impervious super-light Titanium Tracker
.357 Magnum and .41 Magnum revolvers are the answer to an outdoorsmans
dream.

Shooting
Modern Big-Bore Lever Actions

Factory
Load

Velocity
(fps)

Standard
Deviation (fps)

25-Yard
Accuracy (inches)

.357 Magnum

Remington
125-gr. BJHP

1280

13

1.63

Federal 130-gr.
Personal Defense

1381

41

2.00

Hornady
140-gr. HP/XTP

1198

20

1.63

Winchester
145-gr. Silvertip

1161

30

2.25

PMC
150-gr. Starfire

1097

76

2.50

Speer
158-gr. Gold Dot

1169

49

1.50

Winchester 180-gr.
Partition Gold

1093

29

1.13

Overall
average accuracy

1.81

.38
Special

Remington
125-gr. BJHP

1036

35

1.25

Speer 125-gr.
Gold Dot

1008

24

1.88

Winchester
125-gr. Silvertip

886

32

1.50

Federal
129-gr. Hydra-Shok

884

15

1.62

Speer Lawman
158-gr. TMJ

817

7

1.13

Overall
average accuracy

1.48

NOTES:
Accuracy is the average of five seven-round
groups fired from a sandbag benchrest at 25 yards.
Velocity is the average of seven rounds measured
10 feet from the guns muzzle, and standard
deviation is instrumental.

Coming To Grips
With The TrackerThe
grips on the new Tracker are Taurus patented Ribber design. They absorb
recoil and increase controllability tremendously, which is a very important
factor in firing a 24-ounce, full-power-magnum handgun. A handguns direct
recoil impact ordinarily does two things to the hand: It slams the backstrap
against the web of the palm and wedges the angle of the grip downward, working
to break the shooters grasp. Ergonomic grip designs can compensate by
providing cushioning for the palm over the backstrap and by securing the purchase
of the fingers against the frontstrap. The Taurus Ribber grip does both.

Molded from a soft-textured
polymer, the Ribbers backstrap is thickly cushioned around the reduced-dimension
inner titanium grip-frame, and the front and sides of the grip are formed by
wraparound, closely spaced, small elastomer ribs. These softly flexible ribs
(visualize them as three-dimensional teeth on a comb) deform and squeeze together
when grasped, shaping themselves into a natural fingergroove configuration
that molds to the individual shape and surface of the palm and fingers of the
specific hand. Released, they return to natural, ready for the next different
grasp. Plus the many small ridges greatly increase the surface area contact
between the grip and your palm compared to conventional solid-surface grips.

This is a major
advance in grip technology. We have long known that the most effective handgun
grips for keeping a secure grasp against direct recoil are those with fingergroovesbut
only if the fingergrooves match the shooters hand. Unfortunately, no one
shape or size, no matter how average, can fit every shooters
hand (one size fits all always means no size exactly fits). The
Ribber solves the problem, creating an individual custom fingergroove
fit self-molded to the individual hand every time you pick it up. It provides
a remarkably comfortable and controlling grasp on lightweight titanium guns,
even the snubnose Total Titanium .41 Magnum, even in rapid fire. Its the
best, most secure revolver grip design Ive ever encountered. I hope Taurus
will license it to aftermarket accessory manufacturers for application to other
manufacturers handgun models.